


Come Out Swinging

by kuro49



Category: White Collar RPF
Genre: Episode Tag, M/M, for S04E09: Gloves Off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2012-09-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 05:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter and Neal may be throwing out their punches in the ring but it is really Tim and Matt who come out of it swinging.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Out Swinging

**Author's Note:**

> Because Gloves Off left us all with bruised feelings. If I can’t have Peter/Neal feel good moments in this show, I will pretend the making of it was all Tim/Matt feel good moments, you can't convince me otherwise.

As ironic as it sounds, the choreographed boxing fight gone rogue is very much choreographed again from where they stand.

Matt is bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager in all the ways Neal isn’t, shouldn’t be at the very least. While he isn’t smiling, there is still laughter in his eyes as he easily beats at the empty space in front of him, dark hair unruly against his forehead.

Tim dons on the boxing gloves and takes centre stage.

They don’t need to talk about it to know there will be no hard feelings when one sidesteps too soon, play-pretend punches coming into the screen one moment too late. They don’t need the other to say sorry when a move is made too quick, glove coming into contact with the sharp line of his jaw.

And it may come at them with a force that isn’t enough to bruise but may just be enough to knock the breath out from their lungs, soft gasp falling from between their lips. Because all will be forgiven, that’s just how they work.

Matt flashes him a smile, one last bounce and then the cameras are rolling.

He throws his first wild punch, all breathless anger and disbelief. The muscles of his arms taut with tension, betrayal rolling off him in waves and Tim doesn’t need to act, he is genuinely taken back from the shift of Matt to Neal.

Always has been, and Tim suspects, always will be.

The microphones dangling above their heads fall away, the camera lenses seem to disappear. Peter matches Neal, punch for punch, swinging with every intention to hinder, bring the other man to his knees for all the things he did and did not do.

Tim sounds harsh and rung out when he has Neal (not Matt, not with the way his eyes are hurting this way) locked in a hold, voice not quite a murmur when he tells him he has only wanted to protect him.

His flesh is hot when they press too close, his eyes is burning with a kind of cold hard rage that is just for him, and much like Peter, Tim gives him his all in return, desperation whole and raw.

The fight sequence comes to an end with Neal losing, in so many more ways than one.

He lands on his back, stunned and taut, entire body still coiled in a hot white anger that nearly makes him see stars. But it isn’t until they call cut that Matt huffs out a laugh from being knocked flat against the ground, eyes still closed against the white lights above them.

“You alright?”

Matt cracks open an eye to see Tim pulling off a glove. Arm bare all the way down to his outstretched fingertips. There are no bruises settling beneath the skin, the makeup team hasn’t gotten to them yet. So when Matt smiles up at him, the florescent lights do things to his skin, something brilliant.

“Yeah, just great.”

Tim nearly forgets to pull him up when Matt takes his offered hand.

And while he doesn’t exactly stumble into his chest, slick skin and heat against his own, Matt does lean on Tim a little longer than he needs to.

(Matt imagines Neal needing this, comfort among the disarray in his life and Tim imagines Peter thinking too hard over the alternatives when everything he wants is right there in front of him.)

When Matt pulls back, his smile doesn’t go unnoticed, neither does the gleam in his eyes when he rakes his gaze down Tim’s tangible, and very naked, chest. He doesn’t exactly bite his lips but it comes close if only because he is human as much as he is a man.

Tim merely grins, his eyes imitating Matt in response, slow and sure and not one bit baffled by the way his heart gives a flutter. Peter and Neal’s more emotionally charged scenes tend to have that effect on him.

They both stand apart, reluctant almost, each their own man.

XXX Kuro


End file.
